Despite advances in medicine over the last half-century, the incidence of cancer, mental illness, chronic fatigue, and chronic diseases, like diabetes and autoimmune disease, has increased. An acute care approach to healthcare often fails to incorporate important factors such as lifestyle, exposure to toxins, and genetic makeup into the overall treatment plan. 1
Functional Medicine is about promoting wellness in every area of a patient’s being – body, mind & soul – by incorporating what you value into your care and allowing you to take charge of your overall health, well-being, and healing. Functional Medicine goes beyond just focusing on your physical health. This patient-centered approach examines your environmental factors, mind-body elements, and genetic makeup to create a balance that leads to optimal health.
Environmental Factors
The air you breathe, the water you drink, the particular diet you eat, the quality of the food available to you, your level of physical activity, your level of chronic stress and the ability for stress management, and the toxic exposures or traumas you have experienced all affect your health.
Mind-Body Elements
Psychological, spiritual, and social factors can have a profound influence on a patient’s health. Considering these areas helps Dr. Sarah Williams see your health in the context of a patient as a whole person, not just your physical symptoms or health issues.
Genetic Makeup
Although individual genes may make you more susceptible to some diseases and health problems, your DNA is not an unchanging blueprint for your life. Emerging research shows that your genes may be influenced by everything in your environment, as well as your experiences, attitudes, and beliefs. That means it is possible to change the way genes are activated and expressed through our services.
Through assessment of these underlying causes and triggers of dysfunction, our team is able to understand how key processes are affected and help with our services by getting to the root cause. These are the body’s processes that keep you alive. Some occur at the cellular level and involve how cells function, repair, and maintain themselves. All of these processes are influenced by both outside factors and your genetic makeup; when they are disturbed or imbalanced, they lead to symptoms that can lead to disease if effective interventions are not applied.
1 National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief No. 116, March 2013.
Dr. Sarah Williams is our functional medicine doctor here at our practice in Concord, MA. She and the rest of our team here would love to help you on your healing journey with our services. Give us a call today to become a patient of ours or with any questions you may have!